Yesterday’s Advisor featured training guru Brad Karsh’s advice on four distinct personality types (Driver, Calculator, Innovator, and Stabilizer) that you’ll encounter at your company. Today, Karsh explains how to navigate teams made up of these diverse personalities—and why the Golden Rule sometimes doesn’t work.
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Karsh, who is president of JB Training Solutions and author of Manager 3.0: A Millennial’s Guide to Rewriting the Rules of Management, shared his tips at the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Annual Conference and Exposition held recently in Las Vegas.
Here are the four boxes that most workers fit into (see yesterday’s Advisor for the qualities, strengths, and pitfalls each person gravitates toward):
People differ in the way they react to conflict and/or pressure, explains Karsh, and they also differ in the way they react to each other.
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Decision Making and Conflict
Pointing to the top two boxes, Karsh notes that these are your fast decision makers—the Drivers and the Innovators. The two lower boxes, the Calculators and Stabilizers, tend to make decisions more slowly.
When a conflict occurs or pressure is applied, the reactions of each type differ but can be anticipated and managed:
- A Driver will want to seize control. If this sort of employee has trust issues with their team, micromanagement by Drivers can be a problem, warns Karsh. How can you help them? Have a plan to the extent possible.
- Calculators will fall into their comfort zone of systems, processes, and techniques. Be careful that they don’t fall into analysis paralysis, advises Karsh, and help them out by having as many answers at the ready that you can.
- Innovators may underestimate the problem at hand—but if you create urgency for the Innovators, they will thrive under pressure, says Karsh.
- Stabilizers don’t like conflict. They will try to avoid it, and there’s the possibility that they may get flustered. How can this be managed? Provide reassurance, says Karsh.
As far as conflict between team members, Karsh once more referred to the boxes above—the most conflict will occur on the diagonals of the chart. That is, your Drivers and Stabilizers will often be at odds, as will the Innovators and the Calculators.
However, Karsh is quick to note that if all four types take the time to understand each other’s styles, wants, and needs, they will make up the very best of teams. He adds, if they don’t understand each other, they will compose the worst of teams.
So, What Does Your Team Want and Need?
Of course, each team member is going to have a different set of wants and needs, says Karsh:
- Your Drivers want authority, and they need options.
- The Calculators want certainty; they need proof.
- Innovators want attention and need originality.
- Stabilizers on the team want security, and they need consensus.
The Golden Rule of Teamwork
A good group is going to have a little bit of everyone, says Karsh. Know your team, celebrate differences, and play to your people’s strengths.
As a final relationship management takeaway, Karsh says to remember this: the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) may be a great rule to live by, but it may not be the best way to work in a group. On a team, do unto others as they would like to have done unto them.
Teams are also a great way to conduct an interview, and team interviews are a great way to save time and avoid hiring goofs. How to get there? Fortunately there’s timely help in the form of BLR’s new webinar—Team Interviews: How to Orchestrate Effective Dialogue between Current Employees and New Candidates for Optimal Hiring Results. In just 90 minutes, on Thursday, August 27, you’ll learn everything you need to know about using a team to make the most of an interview.
Register today for this interactive webinar.
Use team interviews to make the most of an interview. Join us Thursday, August 27, 2015, for a new interactive webinar, Team Interviews: How to Orchestrate Effective Dialogue between Current Employees and New Candidates for Optimal Hiring Results. Earn 1 hour in HRCI Recertification Credit and 1 hour in SHRM Professional Development Credit. Register Now
By participating in this interactive webinar, you’ll learn:
- How to determine who should be involved in the team interview—depending on the position you’re looking to fill
- The importance of presenting a unified vision of the company culture for the potential employee
- Key questions to ask as you launch your team interview process, such as:
- What’s the right size for a team interview?
- How can you get everyone to agree about what they’re looking for in a good candidate?
- How do you handle over-powering employees that monopolize the interview?
- What are the drawbacks of using your team in the interview process?
- How to prepare and initiate a discussion that will demonstrate the interviewee’s strengths and ability to work with a group
- The importance of having everyone on your team focused and present—no texting or looking at their laptops while the interview is ongoing
- Getting feedback from the team—everyone has a say!
- How to put it all together and assess the results of your interview, so you can feel confident in your decision to hire, or not to hire
- And much more!
Register now for this event risk-free.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
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Approved for Recertification Credit and Professional Development Credit
This program has been approved for 1 credit hour toward recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) and 1 credit hour towards SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM.
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